You may want to read the post, Telle’s Deli, before you read this one.  Today’s story could be considered a continuation of that post.  Martin Gotthilf (also often reversed to be Gotthilf Martin) Telle established a delicatessen which was located in the Union Market Building in downtown St. Louis.  It was called the G.M. Telle Delicatessen.  I cannot help but call it Telle’s Deli.

I managed to find out today that G.M.’s son, Ferdinand Telle later took over this delicatessen from his father.  However, I found this story by looking in the ZionRootsgenealogy.org website.  It was there that I found that Mabel Godin was born on this day.  I would never have found Mabel in our German Family Tree.  I later did a search for “Godin” in our GFT, but there were no matches.

Mabel Gobin was born on May 27, 1888 in St. Clair County in Illinois, making her today’s birthday girl.  Her parents were Peter and Adeline (Jarvis) Godin.   When she was born, Mabel’s father was a farmer in that Illinois county.  Later, that family would move to St. Louis, where, for a while, Peter was a saloon keeper.  We find the Godin household in the St. Louis census for 1910.

It was later in 1910 that Mabel got married.  She was married to Ferdinand Telle on October 19, 1910, probably in St. Louis, but I was unable to find a marriage record for them.  Here is where we connect Mabel Godin with the G.M. Telle Delicatessen.  Ferdinand was the son of Martin Gotthilf and Theresa (Gerharter) Telle.  Ferdinand Telle is not found in our German Family Tree either because he was born in St. Louis.  His birthday was March 8, 1889.

We find Ferdinand in his first census in 1900.  His family was in St. Louis, where his father was said to be a butcher.

In the census taken during the same year as his marriage, both his father and Ferdinand are shown as butchers, with his father being the proprietor.

The 1920 census is the first one showing Ferdinand Telle’s family along with Mabel.  They had three children during that decade.  Since they named their oldest son after him, Ferdinand became Ferdinand, Sr.   I will also note that they named another son after Mabel’s mother’s maiden name, Jarvis.

In a 1916 St. Louis city directory we find both Ferdinand and his father working at the same location in Union Market.

In 1917, Ferdinand had his World War I draft registration filled out.  He  wascalled a meat cutter, and his employer was G.M. Telle.

The 1930 census calls Ferdinand a clerk in a delicatessen, but he must also have been the manager of the delicatessen because his father died in 1924.

In the last census in which we find Ferdinand, Sr., he was shown with the occupation in the image below.  At that point in time, he is called the owner and manager of the delicatessen.

Ferdinand’s World War II draft card is shown below.  His employer was called G.M.Telle, but his father was no longer living.  That business, however, continued to carry his father’s name.

Ferdinand Telle made Telle’s Deli into a second generation (Gen 2) business for the Telle family.  A paragraph of information that can be found on Findagrave.com for Ferdinand says the following:

Later, it was Ferdinand Telle, Jr. who took over this delicatessen, making him the third generation of men in this family to operate that business.  A paragraph is also found on Findagrave.com describing Ferdinand, Jr.’s life.

This note indicates that the delicatessen was moved in 1982 because Union Market closed.  The deli operated in North St. Louis until 1990 when it too was closed.

Ferdinand Telle, Sr. died in 1960 at the age of 71.

Mabel died in 1971 at the age of 82.  Ferdinand and Mabel are buried together in the St. Peter’s Cemetery in Kirkwood, Missouri.

Butchering (meat cutting) is still done by folks in Perry County to provide for their families.  The three generations of Telle butchers (deli operators) in St. Louis is evidence of that skill being utilized in the big city of St. Louis.